Hippodrome (Civ6)

Hippodrome
District of the Classical Era
Introduced in Byzantium & Gaul Pack
Unique to	Byzantine
Unique to	Byzantine
Replaces	Entertainment Complex
Replaces	Entertainment Complex
Unlocked by	Games and Recreation
Plunder	Health
Cost
Production	27
Production	27
Maint.	1
Maint.	1
Yields
Trade Yields	Domestic Destination: +1 Food. International Destination: +1 Food.
Appeal	1
Unlocks
Buildings	Arena  Zoo  Stadium
Projects	Bread and Circuses
Notes
A district unique to Byzantium. Replaces the Entertainment Complex district, and provides +3 Amenities, and cheaper to build. When the Hippodrome and buildings in this district are constructed receive a Heavy Cavalry unit. The free unit does not require resources when created or to maintain.

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The Hippodrome is a unique District of the Byzantine civilization in Civilization VI. It replaces the Entertainment Complex.

• Effects:
  • Lower Production cost (27 vs. 54).
  • +3 Amenities from entertainment to parent city
  • Amenities from the Zoo and Stadium buildings extend to cities whose City Centers are up to 6 tiles away from the district.
  • Provides a free heavy cavalry unit when first constructed and for each building constructed. These units require no resources to create or maintain.
• Restrictions:
  • Cannot be built if a Water Park has already been built in this city.

Buildings

The following buildings can be constructed in a Hippodrome:

• Arena
• Zoo
• Stadium

Projects

• Bread and Circuses: City project which increases the Loyalty pressure that this city exerts on itself and other cities nearby. While active, each of your Citizens here exerts +1 (or +0.5) Loyalty pressure to this city. This pressure also affects other cities within 9 tiles, but is 10% less effective per tile. Once completed, instantly gain +20 Loyalty in this city.

Strategy

This District is inarguably what makes Byzantium so fearsome on the battlefield, since it allows them to summon up a gigantic legion of heavy cavalry units in the blink of an eye, ready to sweep away anything that crosses their path. The biggest boon of the Hippodrome is its unique ability to instantly create a resource free heavy cavalry unit every time you complete this district and each building inside it. Along with the cheaper Production cost of the district, this allow Byzantium to amass large armies of heavy cavalry units in a blink of an eye, tying in nicely with Basil II's leader ability. If properly utilized, this allows for Byzantium to shred through entire enemy civilizations with ease. Note that these resource-free units received from the Hippodrome will continue to be resource-free when upgraded. A powerful strategy with this district is to build a Hippodrome in every single city of yours, but switch Production to something else when you are 1 or 2 turns away, until the Tagma that is unlocked with Divine Right. By doing so, you will instantly create an army of Tagmata, so massive that they are ready to decimate anyone in your way with little to no resistance. Of course, the amount of Amenities provided by the Hippodrome is triple that of a regular Entertainment Complex, which will also keep your ever-growing empire happy and productive as you continue to add more and more cities to your civilization. Byzantium is probably the only civilization that should build Entertainment Complexes in every city, since the Hippodrome is such a powerful replacement for an otherwise underutilized District. This District perfectly pairs with a Domination centered strategy, allowing for constant unit production and high Amenities to prevent any cities from rebelling.

Just for comparison, a Tagma costs 180 Production (220 Production in Gathering Storm), while a Hippodrome has a base cost of 27 Production, which will scale up to around 100 Production in Medieval, even cheaper if you remember to put them down immediately in all cities you have when you unlock the district to lock in the cost. Even the Arena only costs 150 Production, which is still a good deal if you can get a Tagma out of it. Since the cost of the Hippodrome scales upward with civic and technology progression, in order to minimize its cost when the Tagma is unlocked, make sure to beeline straight for Games and Recreation (requires 4 civics before it, 7 civics if you detour for Political Philosophy first), and afterward straight for Divine Right without taking any more detours. Also, you want your Culture output to be always ahead of your Science output, or at least always have more civics unlocked than technologies unlocked, which can be achieved by strategically researching without completing right away, so not building Campuses is actually recommended, since you do not need Science right now, and Science will roll in naturally once the conquest starts. In order to actualize your timing push with your Tagmata, save at least one district slot in every city before the Hippodrome is unlocked, and immediately put them down in all cities to lock down the cheap cost as soon as possible, but wait until the Tagma is unlocked to finish construction. (If you want to know the reason why you should keep your Science low or put down Hippodromes immediately, read here).

Civilopedia entry

The Byzantines, like the Romans before them, loved their chariot races. At the hippodrome (from the Greek “horse way”), teams of four-horse chariots would careen around the U-shaped track – a slight improvement to the bloody gladiatorial pits of Rome. Rivalries between teams were so intense that they put modern-day soccer or football rivalries to shame. In 532, the “Nika riots” between rival fans burned down half of the city of Constantinople and nearly killed the emperor Justinian. The hippodrome was vitally important, then, to the happiness (and, sometimes, unhappiness) of the city’s inhabitants, and was a site where citizens could see and cheer along with (or against) their Emperor.

Gallery

Hippodrome in game

Historic Moment for building the Hippodrome

See also

• Hippodrome in other games